Repairs
by lethedrop
Summary: pre1x2. Duo and Heero’s issues fit together just well enough that Duo may have a chance at seducing Heero…eventually. They discuss the matter more frankly than either likes. Wry humor, a bit dark. Warning for hinted adult nastiness with minors.


Disclaimer: I don't own _Gundam Wing_ or make money from this fanwork.

—Thanks to Deltree for the beta! Remaining issues are, naturally, my own.

—Timeline? What Timeline?

**Repairs**

Duo plopped onto the hangar floor just inside Heero's paranoid-assassin-cum-terrorist-sized radius of personal space. To make it easier for Heero to let him stay there, he crossed his legs and leaned back on his hands in a casual position that stated, "Hey, I'm no threat and I don't feel threatened." It was also meant to imply "I'm sitting in a position I can't immediately act from because I trust you to handle any threats," but Duo was never sure how well Heero interpreted him.

The circuit board his comrade was fiddling with looked scorched, never a good sign, but given the odds of acquiring replacement parts in the next week…well, if anyone could fix majorly busted circuitry it was a Gundam pilot. Especially if said Gundam pilot was Heero Miracles-Fly-Outta-My-Butt freakin' Yui.

That stunt with the three Aries and the diving barrel roll last mission? Not funny.

Heero finally set the board and tools aside on a static-resistant mat and looked up. Duo straightened, resting his hands in his lap. Faced with those annoyed, hypnotic blue eyes, he could only grin. "Hiya, Heero! What's up?"

Heero held very still, with that slight crease between his eyes that meant he was thinking furiously. "I'm repairing a short in Wing's right arm controls. What do you want?"

"Can't I just take pleasure in my buddy's company?" Duo cut himself off before he could say something his less socially adept friend might construe as mocking.

Heero still looked preoccupied, but met his gaze squarely. "Controlling for lack of opportunity, you spend approximately thirty-five percent more time with me than with Quatre, with whom you spend approximately ten percent more time than with Trowa or Wufei. You violate my personal space proportionally. Among males in our society, excessive physical contact is an indicator of sexual interest. Are you attempting to seduce me?"

Bemused, Duo made an effort to kick start his brain. Heero was always very analytical, but this was…. He wasn't sure of the implications of Heero's interpretation of the situation. Was the other pilot really so awkward with people that he had to use the scientific method to analyze their behavior, or was the dispassion deliberate—just his way of creating a nice safe emotional distance? The answer would make a difference in Duo's tactics. "Um," he started, summoning his best guileless smile. "First of all, you're my best friend, Heero. Of course I'm going to want to spend a lot of time with you."

Thirty-five percent? He'd calculated not only how much time Duo spent with him, but also how much time Duo spent with others in comparison? Intriguing, and promising. But as much as Duo wanted to take that "we're friends, I want to be close to you" line and run with it…a long time ago he had decided to base his life on honesty as the best policy, and Heero was straightforward enough to appreciate that. So….

"Secondly…how to put this…if you aren't interested in having sex with me, then I'm not looking to have sex with you. We're _friends_. Sex can really screw that up, no pun." Ball's in your court, buddy.

"I'm not interested in sex."

Speaking of straightforward…if Duo had less self-confidence, that kind of unhesitant response would be seriously damaging.

Wait a minute—Heero tended to be painfully precise in choosing his words. He was not interested in sex, period?

"That doesn't sound too healthy. Hormonally, I mean." Duo cocked his head.

Heero wasn't exactly relaxing, but he didn't seem too tense. That was about normal for when Duo invaded his space and started talking about weird things, so the other pilot probably wasn't about to start swinging fists.

"There is no biological problem," Heero said. "I just dislike having people in my personal space. And relax; I'm not going to hit you for saying something I don't like."

"I wasn't expecting you to hit me. And hey, I get what you're saying. It's hard to let someone in. Sex leaves you vulnerable—you wouldn't want someone you don't trust to get that close to your neck!"

Heero nodded curtly and his thinking-wrinkle smoothed, apparently due to a misimpression that the topic of his asexuality was closed. "You always watch people carefully after you've said something they might react badly to. Even if you weren't expecting me to hit you, you weren't sure I wouldn't. I'm telling you that I'm not like the person or people who taught you that caution. I don't take it personally, because I understand that our bodies remember lessons that our minds know are obsolete or inapplicable."

Ouch. That would be a strike against the "Heero is socially clueless" theory. And why was he always chattiest about things people didn't want to hear?

"Good to know!" Duo grinned, because it was the only way he could react.

Heero nodded and, when Duo remained quiet, his eyes returned to Wing's innards.

Duo didn't give him a chance to reach for a circuit board. "The thing is…" Heero's shoulders tensed minutely at Duo's ever-so-casual tone. "You trust me enough to turn your back on me while I'm still in arms' reach, and sometimes you let me hang all over you—and not just in public where you wouldn't want to make a scene by kicking my butt. If I just don't do it for you, that's fine, but please don't lie to me, Heero."

He was certain he'd kept control of his voice, but something sharpened in Heero's gaze. Apparently they'd been acquainted long enough to begin picking up on each others' issues.

"I haven't lied to you." Heero rarely bothered to lie at all, especially when it came to social niceties. It was one of the things Duo especially liked about him.

Heero elaborated without being prodded. "I…have become habituated to your proximity, but I'm not interested in sex."

"So even if you 'became habituated' to Relena's 'proximity', you wouldn't have sex with her?"

"No." And that response was just as unhesitant as his rejection of Duo. Yet he said the problem wasn't biochemical, or aversion to physical vulnerability…Duo was beginning to get an unpleasant feeling in his gut.

He mulled this over long enough for Heero to start on another scorched circuit board; long enough that Heero froze for a split second, startled, when Duo broke the quiet. "So, Heero…you said it wasn't a lack of biological drive, right? And you've let me close enough to have killed you if I wanted, way more than once, when you didn't have to, so I'm thinking it isn't a trust issue. At least not on that level. So…you wanna tell me why a healthy teenage boy doesn't want to have sex? Or maybe I should keep on guessing?"

"A third option is to drop the question."

"Was that a request?" Duo kept his face and voice neutral.

"…."

If Duo had to guess, that almost-frown was Heero calculating the long-term effectiveness of asking to drop the question.

Abruptly Heero stated, "I was trained to understand that while some sensations are pleasant and some are unpleasant, none should affect my actions." The bad feeling in Duo's gut froze solid and set off goose-pimples as Heero continued, "I was habituated to a wide range of stimuli for that purpose. Sexual attraction and intercourse are positively reinforcing sensations likely to be encountered in the field, so it was important that I be trained to understand their irrelevance."

Some of Heero's quirks, like his indifference to stale ration bars and expensive bakery-made chocolate cake alike, suddenly made sense.

Darkness roiled where Duo's subconscious shaded into his consciousness, and he took several deep breaths and held himself very, very still until he was certain Shinigami had settled. The middle of the war was not a good time to go psycho on J's wrinkly butt.

Certain of G's questions suddenly took on a darker tone, and Duo wondered what might have happened if he hadn't blithely asserted his graduation of sex ed. Or if the Sweepers had been a little less clannish in their official policy of taking care of their own, of whom Duo had been included and G had not.

Duo blinked himself back into the here-and-now, to find that Heero had returned to his circuit board. Admiring the fall of tousled hair over slanted eyes, the flexing muscles in strong arms and the graceful flicks of clever fingers, Duo began to plan his campaign. He already knew its beginning and conclusion.

First, ration bars, like any food, were something to be grateful for. Chocolate cake, on the other hand, was something to _appreciate_. Heero deserved to understand the distinction.

Finally, human "proximity" was a basic need, and sex, between two people who wanted it, should be enjoyed. Heero deserved to learn that.

If Duo were as honest with himself as he mostly tried to be, he deserved to learn it too. His body might have a long memory, but it could be taught new lessons.

**End**

—This was first written as a flashback for a longer fic, but it seemed to develop a theme of its own. Heero, Duo, and poor abused Wing…. Does the "repairs" theme come through in the writing? And does Heero and Duo's relationship make sense in this story, both in the way they handle each other at this point in time and the direction they seem to be headed? Are the characterizations believable? Is the prose comprehensible? C&C, please!


End file.
